Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Congratulations! You’ve given the
green light to implement ecommerce for your small business! Good call; global ecommerce
joined the trillion-dollar industry club in 2012.

This
number will only go up in 2013 (projected at $1.2 trillion) and a chunk of that
is yours for the making. But where the heck do you start? Short answer, get
organized. Long answer, read on.

Start with a Spreadsheet

Yes,
the dreaded spreadsheet. Where ever your product information is stored (in Quickbooks,
on paper or in your head) start breaking it out via data export or a fresh new
Excel doc.

Your
web developer needs your best and most thorough understanding of your business
according to your existing printed catalog or other collateral. All criteria
you want assigned to your products online require their own column in the
spreadsheet:

Ever
comb endlessly and aimlessly through your hard drive for that one family photo
you want to print and frame? Nothing is named, nothing is organized, and you’re
ready to lose it. Spare your ecommerce developers the same torment.

Label every product photo that will be
part of your ecomm system.
Establish a consistent and simple labelling formula of words and numbers. Don’t
get too cute or carried away with underscores and hyphens. This isn’t just for
the sake of your web guy’s sanity; it keeps your ecommerce project on track and
on budget.

Getting You Paid

As a small business owner, you’ve
swiped your share of credit cards. You know which cards you take and turn away. Your to-do
list on the credit card end of ecommerce is a short one:

Know
what credit card associations (Visa/Mastercard etc) you plan to take

If
you’re unsure of what you need, your web developer can advise you on the requirements.
From there, you just need to make the call to get started.

When
you reach out to your account rep, ask them to establish a “payment gateway.” This
makes your account person the gatekeeper
between your customer and the credit card company in the payment process.

From the Web to the Customers’ Door

Order
packaging and shipment is another common occurrence in your small business’
day-to-day. Yet again, your preferences simply carry over to your ecommerce
system.

Considering the potential customers
and revenue, you can’t afford to exclude ecommerce to your small business. Think of a successful,
profitable ecommerce system as a roadtrip destination. Your web design company
is behind the wheel, and you’re supplying the GPS.

There
might be some annoying “re-calculating” moments and wrong turns, but if you
punch in the correct information, you’ll get there via a relatively smooth
trip.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The small business
world and its customers are constantly changing, so you are always changing. Your
company has kept up with the trends and changes in how customers pay for
products and services. From cash-only to
checks to credit cards - you've adapted your business & systems
accordingly.

Everything came down
to a business decision. Is the money there? Is the timing right? Will
this keep my existing customers happy ANDbring in new ones? The new
question - isaddingecommerce capabilities to your website the next necessity?

Beyond Ebay &
Amazon

Ecommerce is a
product of economic and tech evolution. In most minds,
ecommerce = Ebay and Amazon.As
these companies boomed, people
started trusting their credit card information to the web. With their
popularity, Ebay and Amazon blazed the trail for any product based company to
sell online.

Consumer acceptance has now opened the door for service-based
companies to add online payments to their repertoire. Gym memberships, insurance instalments,
account / bill payments, donations; now you
can accept payments for any service with an ecommerce system.

Keeping Up with
Convenience

Our need for
convenience set off the ecommerce boom. This accessibility brings
benefits to both your company and customer. Ecommerce takes the sales &
customer service pressure off your business. The customer in turn controls the
buying & payment process on their terms. It’s a win-win:

·Your win: A crucial
selling tool and added revenue.

·Your
customers’ win: Getting what they need, when they need it, on THEIR time.

The Consumer Has
Spoken

The trend is clear
and the statistics are staggering: US consumers will spend an average of
$1,472 per year online between now and 2016. Ecommerce has done nothing but
grow in recent years:

·In 2011, the total tally of US online
receipts hit $202 billion

·It climbed to $226 billion in 2012

·Ecomm spending projects to spike another 45%
to $327 billion in 2016

·In 2012, total worldwide ecommerce spending reached
$1TRILLION

Is Ecommerce right
for your business?

There is no better
time than right now to weigh your options. Start by researching ecommerce systems that
are specific to your industry. Look at
your competitors' websites to see if they have incorporated online purchasing
or payments. Print up an Accounts
Receivables report to see if ecommerce can help streamline the payment
process. Get input from employees &
customers. Ultimately if you determine
that now is NOT the right time for ecommerce, it's something that should
stay on your radar to be re-evaluated every couple of years if not more
frequently.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Back before the dawn
of Google, backlinks ruled the web. Through internet natural selection, the search engineevolved into the
dominant species. Despite its authority, the search engine has yet to phase out
backlinks; they are a crucial tool for small businesses.

Background on
Backlinks

A backlink is any
link that is directed toward your website from another website. Examples:

A
blogger raving about and linking to a newly discovered site

A
link posted to Facebook or Twitter

Backlinks
lost their corner office, but are still an important cog in Google’s grand
scheme. The more quality backlinks your site has, the more popular Google
considers it, improving your search engine rankings. Think of backlinking as a
petition for Google to recognize your site. Quality links are the signatures.

Digitize Your
Networking Efforts

You’re always in
networking mode for your business. This means a steady stream of business cards
flowing from your wallet. Backlinks are digital
business cards leading back to your company.

Research
and interact on popular blogs or forum sites relevant to your industry. Contact the blogger and let them know
about your business and the quality, relevant content you can add to the
conversation. This tactic can get the link train moving.

Keep it Relevant

Like
with their paper counterpart, be conservative in distributing your
backlinks. You don’t pass your card to everyone in sight; you strike up
conversations to see who might want your services.

When
working the room that is the web, seek out blogs and forums related to what you
offer. Like chatting it up with potential customers in person, you’re seeking quality business interactions, not a
saturation bombing of your company information.

When
playing the good cop, “quality” is Google’s favorite word. If you blindly unload a dumptruck of links (known as linkspam) on
irrelevant sites, they send in the bad cop. This side of Google could slap your
site with the “spam” label for snubbing their quality guidelines. Even if
you’re sharing your link to a relevant site, don’t get carried away; over-linking
can also incur Google’s wrath.

Lean Toward Natural
Links

Actively backlinking your
site is useful, but can become a crutch. These backlinks are lab-grown; focus on the organic equivalent. Cater to your visitors with your site content. This includes filling
your site up with:

Well-written,
detailed content

Attractive
photos, layout and visuals

Work
toward a site with a strong base of visitors. This will spur organic
link-building through these dedicated traffic drivers. Web devotees post at
every opportunity, EVERY day. Whether it’s to their own blog, Twitter, Facebook
etc, if they like your content, the links will be there.

Beware the Black Hat

At
this point you might be saying, “This sounds time-consuming, I’m gonna farm it
out.” Not a bad idea, but be careful.

Many
SEO services offer
backlinking, but some known as “black hats” will build yours with spam. Google’s
spam bloodhounds will sniff out these links, blow them off the web and impose
punishment on your site.

Market, Market, Market!

In the end, you win
with a good website. Refine
and perfect your content marketing techniques, and with quality web content
comes quality backlinks. Inject content into the web that demands interactivity
and the backlinks, and improved Google rankings, will come.